


Insolent Words! How Dare They Not Heed My Call

by Dliessmgg



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fareeha's perspective (mostly), Fluff, Pre-Relationship, University AU, modern day AU, they're professors and not students
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 19:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13197381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dliessmgg/pseuds/Dliessmgg
Summary: Fareeha falls in love, and that turns her from a responsible adult into a silly teenager. There might be some pushing necessary to get all the words out that she wants to say.(A secret santa fic delivered way too late, with all the perils of that. First draft, only the minimum amount of proofreading, no idea if it all the bits fit together. You have been warned.)





	Insolent Words! How Dare They Not Heed My Call

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aizia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aizia/gifts).



~~When I see you over there~~  
~~I want to call your name~~  
 ~~and lay my thoughts out bare~~  
 ~~and end this silly game.~~

  


Fareeha adjusted her reading glasses. _No. No no no. Too cheesy. Too silly. What is this even supposed to mean. I can't give her that. What would she even think of me? Impossible._ She crumpled up the paper and threw it in the bin, where it joined the others.

  


What you are observing right now, dear reader, is a shy gay in love. Others call her suave, handsome, flirty, super cool – and usually those compliments are wholly deserved. But when it comes to romance, all her social masks break down and she regresses into an insecure teenager. But let's start at the beginning.

  


It's a warm spring day at the University of Zurich, where Fareeha Amari is a professor for comparative literature. These days that's mostly an excuse for her to study contemporary Canadian first nations authors. Either way, on this warm spring day she was at the main building's cafeteria to get her coffee, when gay disaster struck.

  


She just paid for her drink, walking along, lost in her thoughts about a short story by Eden Robinson, as she tripped over a stray chair leg. Instinctively she jumped, trying to align her feet with each other so she could land securely and stop her forward momentum, all the while balancing the coffee in her right hand, keeping it at a steady height, to prevent as much spillage as possible. She landed imperfectly, having to take two more steps – which lead to some coffee sloshing over the rim, landing on the person in front of her.

  


There she stood, the beautiful figure, on her way to get a few snacks, coffee stain on her pristine white lab coat, surprise in her face, everything happening too quickly for other emotions to manifest themselves. It was in that moment that Fareeha Amari knew who would receive all love she could muster up in her life. So obviously, a good first impression was important.

  


„U-uh, I'm sorry...“ she stammered.  
The other woman shrugged, giving a noncommital smile. „It happens, don't worry about it.“  
„B-but this looks new.“ Fareeha said. „I should really help you wash it or something.“  
She was waved off. „I've washed worse things than a bit of coffee. You really don't have to worry.“  
Fareeha chuckled nervously. „O-okay.“  
They nodded at each other, then went their separate ways.

  


_Well done, Fareeha Amari_ , she congratulated herself. _You finally meet the woman of your dreams and not only do you manage to spill your coffee on her, you also look so desperate to help afterwards that she probably thinks you're an annoying pushy weirdo. Really well done._

  


This is how they first met. That afternoon, the adult teenager went through the entire university database to find out who that beauty was. It was Prof. Dr. med. Angela Ziegler, specialist for heart surgeries and a leading member of the university's medical technology research team.

  


With impressive achievements like that, of course Fareeha got nervous. How could she in any way compare to a genius like that? Obviously, the only way was to do something impressive, like writing a poem that reflects the doctor's beauty. That is, if you ever actually finish that poem without throwing it away.

  


One time, she brought homemade cookies to the university. She sat close to the cafeteria's entrance, having just finished her lunch, with a box in front of her that has obviously too many cookies for one person. She hoped that Angela would walk by and she could offer her some. That didn't happen. Instead she got more and more embarrassed about all the people who walk by and glance at her, silently judging her. _How could they not judge me, sitting here with a box of cookies all for myself. Why did I do this? I look like such a glutton._

  


(Fareeha started to think of her as Angela. She thought about her so much that it felt like they knew each other for years, even if they never properly talked with each other.)

  


When she heard that Angela's birthday was near, she bought a little present, wrapped it as nicely as she could and carried it in her bag for the entire week before the date. When the day came, she looked at it once again, smoothed out a few creases, then started walking towards Angela's office. Around the corner, around another, there was the door, slowly coming closer. Ten metres. Five metres. Two. One. Nope. Her legs just carried her past the door, in a circle through the building, back to her own office. The present landed in the bag and her head on the desk.

  


On another occasion she talked with a colleague about his new project in literary education, something about reaching young people who use the internet. Fareeha was in the middle of a complicated sentence, when suddenly Angela walked around a corner and all words turned into garbled mouth sounds. Her colleague asked if she was okay. She replied far too late, probably with a flushed face. If she needed to see a doctor, asked the colleague. _I'm seeing one right now, that's what's wrong with me_ , Fareeha thought to herself, chuckling about the pun.

  


Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. med. Angela Ziegler started to notice Fareeha's behaviour. She thought nothing deeper of it, but she got vaguely curious who that odd person was, and what she was doing at University. She looked too old for a student, but she didn't work in any faculties that she knew about. She must be from a more esoteric subject. _Is there an astrological faculty? Let's hope not._ When she asked her colleagues, most of them didn't notice anyone odd, and the few who did didn't know who that was. Angela guessed that would have to remain a mystery. She just shrugged her shoulders and moved on.

  


The moment that actually brought them closer together was obviously nothing that Fareeha had planned. It was on a friday evening, after she had to grade a couple of essays last minute and she just rewarded herself with the first non-microwave dinner in over two weeks, that her friends Lena and Emily stood in front of her door. They insisted that she should come with them to their usual gay bar – The Legbutt – and she had five minutes to prepare herself. According to them, it has been _ages_ (four days) since they last saw each other, Fareeha would always hide in her cave if nobody dragged her out of it, and anyway, going there was always fun.

  


When they arrived, it looked the same as always. The pink and blue lighting gave the collection of thrift store couches a fancier look than they deserved, the paillette wall decorations reflecting it through the room, many of the regular guests lounged on them, some unknown faces mixed between them, Jesse and Olivia were once again behind the counter, and the TV on the right wall had the usual rotation of music videos by Céline Dion, Abba and Gloria Gaynor. Fareeha was immediately so lulled into the comfort of this place, that she almost didn't notice one thing that was different today: with the group in the back left corner sat Angela.

  


She more stumbled than walked after Lena and Emily, who already sat on a couch, leaning against each other. She plumped herself into the club chair next to them, failing to take her gaze off Angela.

„Anything caught your eye, luv?“ Lena giggled.

Fareeha whipped her head around, blushing. „No! I mean, yeah no, err, I mean....“ She sank into her chair, only eliciting more giggles from Lena, and even Emily joining in.

Jesse arrived at their table. „What will it be today, ladies?“

Fareeha turned towards him, glad about the distraction. She ordered the usual, any kind of whisky, on the rocks. Lena got her Mojito, while Emily decided to go against her habits and have a Sazerac.

Jesse was about to leave, when Emily raised her hand. „Oh, and one last thing! Give the blonde there in the back another one of whatever she's had, with regards from Fareeha.“

He raised an eyebrow, glancing between them with a grin and winked. „Will do.“

„Oh god, what are you doing to me.“ Fareeha groaned.

  


Fareeha didn't really listen when Emily and Lena talked about a new movie. She kept glancing over to Angela, who talked with her friends. _At least I hope they're friends. Please let them be only friends._ Now the drink arrived in front of Angela. One friend grinned widely and clapped, the other gave her a pat on the shoulder. They talked to Jesse, then looked in Fareeha's direction. _Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god I can't look I don't wanna look please let this be a normal thing and don't come telling me it's weird._ It was suddenly weirdly silent at her table. Fareeha raised her head _(When did I bury it in my arms?)_ , her face flushed. Emily and Lena burst out into laughter.

  


„Hey, you're the one from uni.“ a voice said behind her. „Is this seat free?“ Angela pointed to the seat next to Fareeha.

„Uh, um, yes, of course, suit yourself.“ Fareeha stuttered. „And, uh, you're ... the other one from uni.“ _Didn't let her know that I researched her. Well done._

A chuckle. „You can call me Angela. Pleasure to meet you.“

„Nice to meet you too. I'm Fareeha.“ _A chuckle! She thinks I'm funny! Great!_

„Wait a moment!“ Lena intervened. „So you're telling me you two have never actually talked to each other?“

„No, not as such, no.“ Angela said, tilting her head.

And Lena burst into giggles once more, almost knocking her drink off the table.

  


The rest of the evening went by quickly. Angela called her friends over – Mei and Satya – they talked about nothing and everything, sang along to the tunes in the background, drank one too many, laughed about little silly things like mispronounced words. Eventually they stood outside, saying their goodbyes to each other.

„It was nice talking with you.“ Angela said to Fareeha. „You should let your friends push you more often.“

On her way home, Fareeha hummed a love song from a fairy tale that she had on cassette as a child, a silly grin plastered on her face.

  


After that, the friday evenings at The Legbutt became a more regular thing, their two groups of friends slowly fusing into one. Emily and Mei found out about their mutual love of penguins. Lena loved Indian food, so she was disheartened to learn that Satya only knew a few basic recipes. One time Jesse turned his playful flirtations towards Mei, until she said that she's ace and would prefer him to stop. There might or might not have something going on between Satya and Olivia, but both of them kept silent about it – and there's also Olivia's maybe-friend maybe-lover Amélie, who once drunkenly flirted with Lena, when Emily was late because of a company dinner.

  


Meanwhile, Fareeha and Angela started occasionally eating lunch together. It wasn't too often, since they both had the colleagues in their respective departments to keep them busy, but it happened every week or two. They usually talk about new discoveries in their fields, silly things their students did, and over time more and more personal stuff snuck its way in. Angela revealed that she secretly collected the lids of portioned coffee cream. Fareeha chatted about her climbing hobby, and Angela was interested enough to come along next weekend.

  


Fareeha was on her way to the climbing hall, the early autumn warmth not helping with her nervous sweat. _This is not a date_ , she reminded herself. _This is just two friends going to a friendly activity together, like normal friends would do. Nothing more, nothing less._ In that moment she saw Angela, wearing light shorts and a fitting T-shirt just short enough that it gave a tiny glance of her belly. Obviously she never wore something like that at University, but even at the bar she usually turned up in long sleeves and trousers reaching below the knees. _...yes, totally just friends._

  


They said a quick hello, then walked the rest of the way to the indoor climbing gym. On the way there, a cyclist barreled down the path, pushing them to one side. _Our shoulders just touched. Her skin touched mine._ They reached the place and grabbed their gear. Fareeha helped Angela into the harness, making sure all the straps are secure. _Did I just brush over her thigh? I just brushed over her thigh._ Since Angela was new to this, they went to the beginner's wall. Fareeha explained the basics of how to grip and stand on the holds, attached the safety rope to the harness and sent Angela up. It was quite hard not to get distracted with her butt in direct view, but Fareeha managed to catch Angela the one time she almost slipped. After a few minutes, she was on the platform at the top.

  


„Wow, this is higher than expected.“ she said. „You look so small from up here!“

Fareeha smiled. „If you look out the window behind you, there's a nice view over the river.“

Angela turned around and softly gasped. „Wow... this _is_ nice. I kind of wish we could look at this together, though.“

„That can be arranged. Stay up there!“ A grin spread across Fareeha's face as she knotted the rope to the hook at the bottom of the wall. She climbed up, almost hopping from hold to hold, and was up there in under a minute.

Angela's eyes were wide open, her mouth opening and closing in astonishment. „...Wow, that was fast. How strong are you?“

Fareeha grinned, flexing one arm. „Strong enough to lift both of us up here.“

Angela reached towards her. „May I ...?“ Fareeha nodded. A gentle hand tried to wrap around her biceps, squeezing slightly. „Wow, that's big.“ _Keep it down, Fareeha, your nerves and your bad jokes. Just keep it down._

  


They looked out the window for a while, talking about random things, Angela leaning against Fareeha. For security, she said, since they're so high up. It distracted Fareeha enough to make her forget Angela was still attached to the rope. Between the soft pressure of the slightly nippier shoulder, the gentle brush of her hair and having to keep up a conversation, she simply had no more capacity to think about it.

  


After they went down, Angela climbed a few more easy routes, until her arms had enough of it. They put all the equipment back and were ready to leave, when Fareeha's bladder complained. Angela said she would wait at the entrance.

  


As she came back, Fareeha saw a young man with green hair talking to Angela, making her uncomfortable. Fareeha stood next to them, arms on her hips, looking at the guy. „Excuse me, can I help you?“

Angela's face suddenly lit up. „Ah, honey, you're back. Come on, I think it's time for us to go.“

She hooked her arm into Fareeha's and dragged her away. The guy's jaw dropped, and Fareeha felt a bright blush spread across her face.

  


„...and that's when she asked me if I meant that seriously.“ Angela said, turning Lena's giggle into laughter, with everyone else joining in. Even Satya gave it more than a smirk. They were at the Legbutt again, the incident at the climbing gym almost a week ago. Fareeha buried her blush in the glass. Turns out Angela is such a good storyteller that everything came back to her as if it just happened.

„Oh, and you never invited any of us to go climbing with you, how come?“ Emily asked.

Fareeha gave her the stink eye. „You never asked. An' anyway, you couldn't pull that with me, you 'lread have someone.“ Her speech started to slur. She was already a bit tipsy from the champagne-and-snacks event her faculty organised, and having to relive that story didn't exactly make her slow down. She wasn't at her limit yet, but she felt that today she would get there much quicker.

  


Thankfully the focus now shifted to the things everyone else did last week, and she waved to Jesse for another one. She only half-listened, her eyes already drooping a little, but apparently Mei and Satya went to a new exhibition at a modern art museum, while Emily and Lena finally bought a new TV, like they wanted to at least a month ago. Olivia came over to chat for a few minutes during a quiet moment, and a drunk Amélie showed up again, asked Angela why she was so beautiful, and then walked off again. While all this was happening, Fareeha has constantly been sliding further down her seat, and now she was practically sitting on the floor.

  


„Are you okay, Fareeha?“ Mei asked, concern in her voice.

„I'm fine.“ she answered. „I'm perrrrrfectly fine. I'm so fine I couldn't be finer. I'm fine as silk. Ha! You see, silk is silk, and I'm a human and not silk. Isn't that funny?“

Angela stood up. „I think you've had enough for tonight. I guess I'll have to bring you home.“

Lena wooped in the background, or at least it felt like that for Fareeha. And now there were suddenly two legs standing in front of her, the nicest legs she had ever seen.

She put her hand on one leg, then suddenly clung to it. „Mmmh, you're such a nice leg. Let me love you, you lovely leg.“

Laughter was around her. Pats on her head. „I'm up here.“ said Angela. „Can you get up, or do you need help.“

„I don't--- I don't need help! Imma shtrong impedendent woman!“ Fareeha answered loudly, and shot up. Suddenly her head swirled, she almost stumbled and had to lean on Angela.

Pats on her back. „Yes, yes, you're strong, we know that. But to keep you strong and healthy, we need to get you home now. Say goodbye to everyone.“

Fareeha took a deep breath. „Goodbye, everyone!“ she shouted through the bar.

  


A few months later, after the lectures of the semester had ended, Fareeha and Angela went on a weekend trip to Munich, to have a look at the Christmas markets. They had the idea for it during a lunch this week, and they had to search a bit to still get a hotel room that was reasonably cheap. It was a fair bit away from the train station, but they had a direct bus line there.

  


When they arrived, it looked a bit more run down than on the photos, but still good enough for the two nights they would be sleeping here. They booked under Angela's name, so she talked to the receptionist. He wished them a nice holiday and gave a little wink.

  


The small, old lift was cramped with their luggage and both of them in there, but with a bit of squeezing in they managed. To press the buttons Fareeha had to lean over Angela, who couldn't turn around anymore. She felt the doctor's breath on her neck and felt a blush on her face. She could hide that either by turning away – which was impossible in here – or by staying in this position, which made it even worse. Thankfully the ride was already over before she could make a decision, and they had to squeeze out again.

  


The only modern thing about the hallway was that the rooms were locked with key cards instead of actual metal keys, but even that looked like it was added just recently. Their room was one of the closer ones to the lift, so they found it quickly. Angela opened it with the card and went in first. They pushed the luggage through the short corridor created by the bathroom, when Angela suddenly stopped and Fareeha bumped into her.

  


„What's the holdup, Angi? Is there something wrong?“ she asked.

Angela stepped to the side. „It might be that we accidentally booked the wrong kind of room.“

And there, in the middle of the room, there stood a single king size bed.

  


They asked the receptionist if there was any other room they could switch to, but the hotel was fully booked, and the same was likely for all the other hotels, according to him. The only consolation he could give was that the bed was probably big enough.

  


After they settled into their room, it was so late that they just wanted to lie down and sleep. Angela put on her pajama in the bathroom, while Fareeha quickly changed next to the bed. They used some of the extra towels for a makeshift wall in the middle of the bed, and then both settled in on their sides. Despite how tired she was, Fareeha couldn't fall asleep. Even with the lights turned off and her back towards Angela, she was deeply aware of her presence, of the little noises when her feet moved, of the sound of her breathing, of the little tensions in the mattress when her weight shifted. _This is the moment_ , Fareeha thought to herself. _If you don't tell her here, when else would you even do it? Even if you do it tomorrow, it will be different, you will be already used to the situation. Just do it._

„Hey, Angela?“

„Yes?“

„Good night.“

„Good night, Fareeha.“

  


The next morning they went to the market at the Viktualienmarkt. They strolled through the stands, admired the handicrafts on display, looked at the pretty lights that glittered even during the day, and eventually they both got a mug of Glühwein and watched the people on the ice stock course.

  


„You know, I could get used to this.“ Angela said.

Fareeha turned her head. „Hmm? Get used to what?“

Angela shrugged her shoulders. „You know, hanging out with you, doing things with you, I quite enjoy that.“

Fareeha felt the heat in her heart rising. „I-... I see. Me too. I enjoy this too, I mean.“

Angela turned to her, an insecure grin on her flushed face. „Say ... do you want to make this a more permanent thing? I mean, being together and such.“

Fareeha's eyes widened. She took one hand off her mug and held it out towards Angela, smiling. „Yes, I would very much like to.“

  


Angela placed her hand in Fareeha's. They pulled each other closer, landing in an embrace. Angela's head rested on Fareeha's shoulder, trembling and giggling. _I love you_ , thought Fareeha. „I love you.“ she whispered into Angela's ear.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Facts:  
> \- The bar is called The Legbutt because that's how I pronounce LGBT.  
> \- Fareeha's inner thoughts are mostly how I would react, if I was quick enough to actually have a reaction and not just shrivel away.  
> \- Jesse & Olivia are super best bros forever & always and noone can take that away from me.  
> \- Yes, there's a decent amount of people in Switzerland who collect the lids of portioned coffee cream. And no, I didn't mean creamer, I meant the dairy product.  
> \- I'm sorry if I got the climbing safety wrong, I've only done it once or twice, long time ago.  
> \- Ice stock is a sport that is vaguely similar to curling, except instead of a heavy stone you send out a flat disk with a stick on top, and there are no brooms involved.  
> \- Bottom text.


End file.
